The Second Chase

Posted on Wed Jul 6th, 2022 @ 1:30am by 2nd Lieutenant Christian Rogers & Captain Cronin Keys [GM] & Commander Emma Peel [Nova]

Mission: M1: A New World
Location: USS Darling/Malon Freighter

Remaining Malon Freighter

The transport completed and the four MACO personnel were already in motion. Just as before, they quickly obtained their targets and during the shock and surprise at their sudden arrival, the bridge crew was nullified. And, keeping Keyes's orders in mind, the Malon were incapacitated, not killed.

"Radiation levels are off the chart," Hannah stated, watching the HUD on his helmet's visor. It was connected to his wrist based medical tricorder. "It'll override suit protections within minutes."

"Meaning?" Rogers asked as he finished restraining one of the four Malon bridge crew.

Hannah shrugged, the motion somewhat diminished despite the flexibility of their armor. "We'll have to receive more advanced treatment when we get back. But our suit seals should protect us from too much harm. Provided we're not here for more than a few hours."

Rogers nodded, "Understood. Kawolski, Baldwin, you know your orders, get to it."

"Aye, Lieutenant," Baldwin said as he made his way to the door leading away from the bridge.

"Pioneer, do you copy the situation over here?" Rogers asked over the open comm line to their ship. It should not only allow for communications buty also send back biotelemetry, visual recording as they see it and other sensor data. It was supposed to be one of the new upgrades of the new generation armor. He watched his two NCOs slip off the bridge and into the long corridor leading to the crew area of the ship. He didn't get a response.

"Pioneer?" he asked again, slapping the side of his helmet a few times in an ages old gesture to get tech to work.

He moved to the conn station and stared at the display. Unlike the other ship, which was in immediate jeopardy of exploding, he had a bit more time to study the layout and try to figure out how to get it to work. He noticed Hannah moving their prisoners forward of the station, where they could work on the controls and keep an eye on them.

Elsewhere on the Remaining Malon Freighter

The Malon dropped stiffly, a full blast of phaser stun knocking him in the chest.

"It's just if she wants something more to do," Baldwin said as he covered Kawolski while his friend secured the new prisoner. His scans weren't working correctly so they had no real idea how many Malon were aboard the ship. By his reckoning they covered at least a third of the small crew section. They would be able to cover the area much quicker than if it were a Starfleet vessel of the same size, due to most of the area devoted to the irradiated cargo sections.

"I don't know, she hasn't mentioned being unhappy. She does like weaving things. I mean, it's literally her name." Kawolski responded as he checked the fit of the flexcuffs on the Malon prisoner then set him upright against the wall.

"Yeah, but if she wants more to do. The Nursery could use some part time help. Malinda thinks Weaver would be good there, I mean, it's almost as if Jeremy likes being with her more than us sometimes."

"She is an awesome woman," Kawolski said, his voice filled with love and pride of the woman to whom he was engaged. The idea of them 'dating' to get to know each other better turned out to be one of the best he'd ever heard. Even now, with their holodeck cottage almost finished, he couldn't believe how lucky he was with their match. "I'll tell her about it, but the choice has to be hers."

"I thought your colony had the husband as the authority in the household?" Baldwin asked, as Kawolski took out another Malon crewmember. His voice was filled with jocularity, the joke old among the friends as he well knew that Kawolski didn't stick to that particular colonial custom. It was one of the benefits of leaving home to join the Corps and finding a wider galaxy where people were considered equals.

"Yeah, I could put it that way, but she leaves bruises when she gets angry. Oh, sure, she calls it 'sparring' but I'm no dummy," Kawolski said, taking out another Malon that rushed into the corridor from a side room while Baldwin was still securing the first.

"You two are aware this is an open comms channel to the ship, right?" It was the voice of Rogers, sounding both exasperated and amused by their conversation.

"Uhm..." Kawolski said, as he and Baldwin exchanged wide eyed glances with each other. "Yes, sir?" But he quickly switched to a closed connection between just those two.

"Extra PT?" Baldwin said as soon as the line was established.

"If we're lucky. If Keys was listening in, we're probably going to get dishonorably dismissed and then jettisoned out of the nearest airlock.

"Yeah, if we're lucky," Baldwin replied as he slipped into the still open room off the corridor. Both of them chuckled but continued their systemic search and incapacitate mission.

Remaining Malon Freighter's Bridge

"You think this is warp control?" Rogers asked, hearing the open shipwide commline go silent. The Pioneer still hadn't responded and that worried Rogers. His tech weenie, Warren, stated the armor was good to go and should work as specs stated. Yet it seemed something went wrong. He was even noticing his own telemetry link with his team was becoming corroded.

"Not sure, but...maybe?" Hannah said.

Rogers felt the young man's reticence to be wrong. It still stemmed from that blowup a few weeks ago. Hannah did what he could to avoid him and when he wasn't able to do so, remained quiet and slightly tense. Rogers didn't want to pry deeper to find out why but he did want it to come to an end.

"Good enough for me, Hannah," he said, clapping the younger man on the armored shoulder. He hit it and the ship suddenly lurched then both of them felt the slowing of the ship.

"Tractor beam?" Hannah asked as he pointed to another flashing control. Rogers looked over at the recalcitrant Malon again. Their attempts to gain cooperation from them failed. Rogers wasn't too adverse to use some 'incentivized interrogation' techniques on them but didn't because...well...Pioneer leadership left a lot to be desired.

"Good as my guess," Rogers said. He let Hannah hit the control. There was a slight lurch forward, as if the ship was propelled forward after dropping weight. They couldn't be completely sure if they had dropped the tractor beam and freed the Talaxian ambassadorial ship or not. It would take some more trial and error before he was fully confident they had even rudimentary control over the Malon ship. Though, he would not be at all aggrieved to know they could drop the cargo section of the ship. At least then the radiation levels would drop.

"Keep trying to work it out," Rogers said, glancing again at the scowling Malon, especially the one he determined was the captain of the vessel.

"Ship secured." Baldwin said over the open line. Rogers noted the time on the HUD chronometer.

"A bit slow," Rogers joked.

"Some of them are galactic champions at Hide And Seek." Kawolski answered, his tone somewhat annoyed. "And even better at screaming when caught. Bunch of sore losers you ask my opinion of it."

"Carry on," Rogers said, chuckling. He hoped they could establish communications with the Pioneer soon. At this point he believed they'd have to figure out how to do it using the Malon systems. They should be built with some form of radiation shielding or bypasses. Something that allows the terribly destructive energy of theta radiation to keep the ships from breaking down during their cargo runs.

Still, he thought as he glanced at the prisoners huddled just below the ship's viewscreen. He didn't have to learn from scratch. Not when he had perfectly good resource right in front of him.

=/\= "Peel to Rogers, status. =/\=

"Communications established, good job Hannah," Rogers said before slightly turning - an ages old habit of indicating he would be speaking now to the open comms channel.

For his part Hannah just looked up, confused and baffled. He hadn't established communications. Of that he was pretty sure. Unless mashing random buttons really was a good idea.

"Commander," Rogers said, "mission accomplished. We have control of the ships and taken the crew into custody. The ambassador's ship is freed from Malon control and should be returning to the Pioneer's protection. I hope," the last was muttered. Ambassadors rarely did the smart thing. But Neelix worked with a Federation crew for several years so maybe he'd learned a few things about common sense. "Orders, Commander?"

=/\= Keep our "guests" comfortable until we return to the Pioneer. I am setting a course now." responded Peel

=/\= Darling to Pioneer. Setting course to return. Please advise.

=/\= "Glad to hear you, Darling, hehe." A pause. "Please return and escort the Ambassador's ship in as well please. Pioneer out." =/\=